An Echo Of Life
by wishlady
Summary: A bit of a mystery. Who is Echo/Caroline, what if she was someone that you know? A very vague idea that crossed my mind. It should really be in the Buffy cross over section but I wanted people to read and review. Hint, yes R & R... ok so I know I said that I would add more and this is me saying that it will be very soon. Sorry for the amount pf time that has passed.
1. Echoes of the Present

Okay I finally got to see all of the Dollhouse and I am editing and adding to this story. Sorry for the long hiatus but it is already much longer than the original.**  
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**Chapter 1: Echoes of the Present**

"Nothing is what it appears to be."

"Seems pretty clear to me."

"Because you are only seeing part of it. I'm talking about a clean slate"

_She watched this woman. She would try and warn her in the only way she could. She could only hope that Adele would hear her warning, but somehow she didn't think she would._

"You ever try and clean an actual slate? You always see what was on it before."

A long pause before Adele spoke again. She was abrupt almost harsh. "Are you volunteering?"

"I don't have a choice, do I. I didn't get this far…"

_She had a past, one that if anyone found out about she would be put back in jail or worse in a lab. Now this woman, who looked so like another from her past, like her old watcher, was giving her an out. It was a way to erase her past, to change her future. Could she trust her? Did she have a choice? This woman called her Caroline but she had another name. What would those who thought they knew her, say about what she was going to allow to happen._

"Caroline, actions have consequences."

"Oh, god you're loving this aren't you?"

"I'm sorry you don't understand what we are offering here, but what we do helps people. If you become a part of that it can help you"

"Right…You're just looking out for me."

"Perhaps better than you have. We can take care of this mess. After your five year term you will be free to …"

"I don't deserve this. I was just trying to make a difference. Tryin' to take my place in the world. You know like she always said. Now I'm like…" She paused and drew in a heavy breath. She might be being blackmailed into this position but they weren't prepared for the results. "I know, I know, actions have consequences." The words threw her back in time. A time when there was blood on her hands, the blood of a human. Her eyes flew up at Adele's next words.

"What if they didn't?"

_So she took the offer, signed a name of a girl who died in a town that no longer existed. That was who she became and now even that name would be stripped from her. She would become an empty shell, her memory stripped of everything, everything except her heritage. Something no science could erase._

She was Eleanor Penn, and she was here to help a man, Gabriel Crestejo, get his daughter back after she had been kidnapped. She was a negotiator, because he wanted no official involvement. The ransom was five million dollars, an amount Mr. Crestejo was more than willing to pay, but he thought that since she was a beautiful woman that she would be more of a hindrance than a help. He thought she was presumptive and perhaps out of her league. She made demands and he worried that her attitude would get his daughter killed. So he had started pushing at her. Making comments about her past experiences but he only laughed at her when she explained her education. He made her tell him about her past how she had been kidnapped and abused and something had happened flashes of dreams or memories of things that made no sense.

The next day they met with the kidnappers. The exchange was almost done when she caught a glimpse of him, of the man that had kidnapped and raped her when she was only nine. He had been part of a team then too. Her parents had paid but the exchange was never made. He had said he was a ghost, that you couldn't fight a ghost. But he was heavy, the weight of him, but ghosts aren't heavy they are sheets with holes cut out. Inside her she was screaming but it was time for her treatment. Boyd was taking her for her treatment but they talked it out on the way… there was only her, she was the only one that could find that little girl. There wasn't much time. She lay back in the chair and waited after a few moments Topher got a call and then she sat up ready to go.

They had it figured out. They knew where the girl and her kidnappers were. There wasn't much time. Something moved behind her eyes and for a moment she didn't look like a hot librarian, she looked like the perfect predator and then it was gone.

She was there at the house, words were spoken but it was hazy, like part of a dream. Her body reacted, went through motions but there was more there. She almost had it and then it was gone. It was time for her treatment.

Topher was there. She lay back in the chair as he spoke. "This is going to pinch a bit."

Pain… Flashes…A blond girl smiling at her helping her make a bed. Looking down at her stomach to see a blade there. Miles to go little miss Moffit counting down from seven three oh. A dark haired man that changes and seems to be a monster. A woman, Gwendolyn Post…a glove. What the hell was this? Why was she here? Where was here? What the hell was going on? Pain, intense pain, and the images were gone, replaced with calm contentment.

"Did I fall asleep?"

"For a little bit."

"Shall I go now?"

"If you like."

Topher watched her as she walked out of the room and down the stairs. She would go swimming and perhaps practice her Tae Chi. Her face turned back towards him for just a moment and the look in her eyes was not that of a contented idiot but that of a killer. Then she turned away again and he shook the feeling away.


	2. Primal Echoes

**Chapter 2: Primal Echoes**

She almost felt like herself. A happier self. She was at one with the adrenalin pumping through her body. It felt wonderful to let go and be physical. Underneath the excitement and the joy though she could feel something. She felt like she knew this guy that this weekend had been magical but something was off. They were out in the middle of nowhere and it was great… in some ways. He took her bow hunting and it felt natural, like the bow was a part of her. They made love, soaking in the sunlight and it felt like it was something she didn't get often. Then he changed, he turned cold, cruel even.

They had been talking, perhaps even going another go 'round but his words confused her. "You need to get going"

"Going, where?" She was still giggling as she spoke, but a chill of unease slid down her spine and the giggle was forced.

"There's just enough daylight left to make it back to the main road. Might even flag a ride out of here before I catch up." He was dressing as he spoke.

"Ya, okay, am I missing something. Richard?"

"You need to stop talking now and start running. I'll give you a five minute head start," he was picking up the bow his face serious as he turned back to face her "then I'm coming after you."

She dressed quicker than she thought possible and started to run. She knew in her gut he wasn't kidding. She was running and terrified. Her heart was pounding and her breath short. Terrified she kept going praying she would find some sort of civilization. Someone to help her. She had fallen several times, her hands and knees were skinned. He was above her and then an arrow nicked her leg. Gods how it hurt, but she kept going. After half an hour she spotted a rangers cabin and pushed harder thinking there was help in sight.

Inside it was empty of life. She searched for a phone, a radio, anything that would help her. A canteen was hanging from the bunk and she snatched it grateful for the water inside. She heard the static of a radio and rushed to the closet only to scream when a body fell on her. After a moment she took the radio and begged the air waves for someone, anyone, but she would have been happier if Richard hadn't been the one to answer.

"Hey baby, guess you found Ranger Bob huh." He sounded so relaxed.

"Why are you doing this?" She was almost in tears as she asked.

"Cus I wanna know."

"Know what? You sick son of a bitch!"

"If you deserve to live, if you've earned the right." He was nonchalant about it, like it was natural.

"You know what gives some one the right to live?" She was getting angry and it felt better than the fear. "Not hunting them!" She shouted the last bit into the radio.

"That's it. Shoulder to the wheel. Prove you're not just an echo."

"You want proof you psycho, how about this. I am gonna kill you. Will that prove it? I'm gonna sta…b you." For a moment she struggled to speak her throat tight like she had drunk lemon juice. She coughed trying to clear her throat when he spoke again.

"You don't sound too good. Hey, you didn't drink from a canteen in there did you? Cus, umm, that would be bad."

She left the cabin as quickly as she could, the world slowly drifting in and out of focus. He was speaking again but she didn't catch all of it. Something about not killing her. Then something shifted, a part of her clicked almost audibly. There was a girl walking just ahead of her. It was her, at least she looked like her but underneath she knew it for a lie. That girl never really existed. She backed up, tripped, wound up in the water only barely making it to the edge before passing out.

She dreamed in those few minutes, of things far scarier than a guy with a bow. Things that could destroy the world, things that could make you a monster. She could fight them, she had fought them, this… human was nothing.

She woke up to Richard telling her to wake up. He said she could take a minute but she ran anyway. She needed to get a bit of space, find a weapon. He was going to pay for this, she would make him pay.

She was running until she heard someone behind her and then she ducked behind a tree and grabbed a broken branch. She was swinging as she came around the tree only to have the branch caught by a black man. For a moment another face flashed in her mind, that of a younger black man. In her mind he spoke 'How about we make it out of here and you let me surprise you.' Then she was back in reality.

"Do I know you?" she asked hesitantly.

"Everything's going to be all right." And like that her body relaxed a bit. Inside her, mind was screaming… NO!

"Now that you're here." Her body spoke the words without her wanting to. The drugs had made her wonky and there were layers that she couldn't make it through but her mind pushed. She almost lost it, lost all control moving to follow him when an arrow seemed to appear, jutting out of his side. The fog lifted and a deeper part of her came to the surface, the part that was instinctual. They ran together until he couldn't anymore. They spoke for a bit. She told him about the drugged water about seeing things, people who weren't there. He tried to tell her that everything's going be all right and it struck cord… but she shook it off and spoke again. "No it isn't."

He seemed confused at her response and spoke again "Did you hear what I said? Everything's going to be all…"

She interrupted him "Everything's Not going to be all right. You don't get to live just because you deserve to. You have to prove it, you have to put your shoulder to the wheel." Richard had said that to her and she repeated now. The black man seemed confused at her statements. They spoke a few moments and he pulled out a silenced pistol.

She knew she had to kill him and that part her that reveled in the adrenalin also knew exactly what to do. She led him around let him see her, winged him with a bullet. She knew he was behind her when he spoke into his radio. She was turning and aiming before he even got the bow up.

"Is this the best date ever or what?" Underneath it all she had to agree this was pretty good. Five by five. They stood aiming at each other until he came up with idea of them just going their separate ways. She knew was a trick but let him try it. Of course he tried to kill her anyway. He shot at her, missed but she gut shot him. He was still up so she tackled him. He managed to ground her, his hands around her throat squeezing.

Beside them she could see herself three times over. The first was vacant eyed, the second the girl that never really existed and the third was a leather clad cruel eyed woman. The first spoke. "I try to be my best" Her eyes flicked to the ground where an arrow lay. Grabbing it she sank it deep into Richards neck and yanked it back out.

He lay there dying, his blood on her hands. A flash of another man, a man in a suit and a blond girl pulling her away, then it was gone. She made her way back to the black man. They sat there until the others showed up. It was time for her treatment.

She lay back in the chair and felt the pain. Images flashed through her mind. Everything that had happened in the last three days, but one stuck out and seemed to linger. Her naked, wet, covered in blood while a man she knew stood above her hidden in shadows. She knew him that was…

"Did I fall asleep?

A gentle eyed black man held her hand and spoke "For a little while.

"Shall I go now?"


End file.
